The Forever World
by belated eloquence
Summary: The ancient gods are just myths from thousands of years ago. That's what regular mortal Percy Jackson thought until he is literally pulled into their world. Now aside from dealing with schoolwork he has to deal with fighting in an immortal war. Along with his two best friends he must learn to fight and survive in a world of monsters. To do so will cost a choice he can't make.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so probably not the best idea to be posting another story when I'm not doing the best keeping up with my other one, but I really like this idea, and writing it has been really easy and it's actually helping some with my other story. So, please tell me what you think of it and if you think I should continue it. All criticism are accepted, even really means one, because at least their honest. Unless you're hating to hate, then I don't see the purpose.

As always the character might be a little OOC, but I try to keep them to their most core character traits. OOCness is usually the cause of the story line or the fact that I'm not Rick Riordan and I can only write the characters as I understand them to be. For this reason I believe it is acceptable and should not cause too many problems. None of the characters are that wildly changed as I see it.

Anyways, as I said before I am not Rick Riordan, the credit for the characters goes to him. I claim no rights to any of them.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoy!

* * *

The city was hot. The heat of the summer hadn't quite left its blocks yet even though fall was rapidly approaching. However, something about that fact just made the heat worse. It wasn't even that hot truly. It was only in the low seventies, a moderate temperature compared to the summer average that ranged in the mid to high eighties, a lot of days getting even hotter than that. The anticipation of cooler weather though made even the slightest bit of heat unbearable. School was already starting. Couldn't at least one good thing come out of the ending of summer?

I stretched out across and isolated bench in Central park, soaking in the coolness of the shade and trying to forget that today was my last day of freedom before school. How had the summer gone by so fast? I hadn't even accomplished what I had set out to do. I thought I had eternity, but now the summer was gone and senior year was rapidly approaching. After that came college, and that was the most difficult part, right? Trying to stay close with all your friends even as they begin to move away, chasing their dreams. There's nothing you can do about because you know asking them to put aside their dreams to stay close to you would just be a dick move, even if you only had good intentions.

I guess during those times that's what I feared the most. That's the narrow vision with which I viewed the world. My only concerns were my life and getting through it happily and succeeding in school – a task all its own, believe me. Now, I can't help but wonder how I could define life so blandly. That's why I'm starting here though. So, you can understand the importance of my decision and why I had to choose what I chose. I only hope that you will be able to accept it… and forgive me.

There was something tapping on the tattered sole of my skate shoes as I lay on the park bench. It made me open my eyes and life up my head to investigate. At the foot of the bench stood one of my best friends in the whole world, Annabeth, looking as beautiful as she always did. She was dressed in her usual skinny jeans and t-shirt combo. Her curly blond hair was pulled up into a ponytail to keep it out of her face, but a few shorter strands by her temples hung freely. She had a notebook under one arm and a pencil in the other, which she was using to prod at my shoe. Her lips were turned up into smug little smile. I hated it as much as I loved it.

"Really, Percy? This is how you spend your first full day as a legal adult? Sleeping in the park, cuddling with your skateboard?" Annabeth's words were judging, but her tone was light. Ever since we were twelve she liked to pick on me like that. It wasn't until a few years ago did I realize she didn't truly mean everything that she said, only most of it.

"Well, I could be buying cigarettes and porn like a bunch of the other guys at our school." I swung my feet off the bench and pushed myself into a sitting position so Annabeth could sit down next to me. I set my skateboard, which I had been holding against my chest, underneath my feet on the ground. Despite the face she made at my comment Annabeth took a seat. "Besides," I continued, "that wasn't all that I was doing. I was dreaming, too."

"Were you now? And what were you dreaming about?"

I had to scratch my head at that comment, my brow creasing as I tried to remember. I knew I was having a dream. I remember the feeling of floating through space, so many different things flying past me that I could barely comprehend. There were people too, they seemed to be trying to speak to me, reach out to me for help, but they were blurry and I couldn't remember a thing they were saying. It felt so real I knew I had to be having some crazy dream, but as I tried to put it to words my mind went blank like it had never happened at all. Can someone imagine that they dreaming? "I can't really remember."

I don't know why, but Annabeth seemed a little disappointed. Perhaps my imagination was just going crazy that day. "It must have not been a very important dream if you can't remember it," she concluded in her absolute tone that left no room for argument. She could tell you anything in that tone of voice and you would believe her. She was usually a hundred percent correct, too.

"I guess so. Or maybe I'm still asleep." To emphasize my point I yawned, which wasn't entirely purposeful. I was extremely tired.

"Yeah, I'm exhausted too. I guess that's why you're supposed to go to sleep after the party ends instead of staying up later."

"It was worth it though." Last night was my eighteenth birthday party. Everyone had stayed up dancing and playing video games until one in the morning. Except for Annabeth and me, who instead stayed up until nearly five together after everyone else had left. We had gotten into an intense Super Smash Bros competition and we had lost track of time. In the end I won by default, because Annabeth wanted to get home to sleep. Normally we would have both just crashed on my couch, but she had something important to do in the morning.

"I was almost late for my appointment with my academic advisor this morning I was so tired," Annabeth complained.

"Why were you talking with your academic advisor the day before school starts?"

Annabeth looked down at her notebook, hesitantly poking the spiral binding with the end of her pencil. "There's a really big architecture conference coming up soon, and if I can get my portfolio and presentation ready by then I might be able to get a full scholarship to South Carolina."

"Oh," I stated dumbly. Now I understood why she seemed a little hesitant. Every time Annabeth tried to talk to me about where she wanted to go to college the conversation never went smoothly. I know she was really excited, but at the same time I didn't want her to leave me. What made it worse was that she didn't want to leave either, she had told me so, but it was also her dream. I don't know many twelve year old girls who know they want to be a world famous architect and work nearly every day of their life towards that dream. I would actually like to see it come true just for that if not just for Annabeth. That never changed the fact that I wished our dreams took us to the same place though.

"Anyways," Annabeth put in, forcing her voice to sound a little more chipper than usual. "Are you hungry? Because I was just on my way to lunch when I saw you lounging about like a hobo."

I put my hand against my stomach like I could feel the emptiness of its contents. "I could eat." As I stood up from the bench I got a head rush. My vision blurred and filled with black spots, but the spots weren't entirely black. They were filled with the broken images from my dream and I didn't feel lightheaded so much as if I was falling. It all only lasted a few seconds, however it was enough to throw off my balance. I fell to the ground, my skateboard shooting out from under me.

Annabeth chased down my skateboard for me and she came back with an amused smile on her face. "I thought you were supposed to be good at this."

"I am," I protested, rubbing my arm where I fell on it. "I like how you don't even ask if I'm okay."

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

The truth was I wasn't. It wasn't that I was terribly hurt from falling on my ass, but rather the strange feeling I got from my head rush unsettled me. It sent a light buzzing sensation through my entire body. I couldn't make sense of it though, so I didn't want Annabeth to know. "I'm just fine, thank you."

"You see, I didn't need to ask. I know you well enough to know that you're good."

Because Annabeth was with me I didn't get back on my board. She wouldn't be able to keep up if I was riding and she was walking. At least that's what I would have said if she asked me. The truth was I didn't even trust myself to be on it at the time. Each step I took felt weird, like my body wasn't really my body. I was just floating inside it somehow, but really I was in another place entirely. It was like watching myself in a dream. Whatever my head rush was, its effects were lingering. I tried to walk it off. I figured it was just some strange sensation that would fade away. Nothing to worry about.

As we walked through the park I tried my best to not think the strange occurrence. It wasn't really that hard with Annabeth walking next to me. She could always find something interesting to talk about. Even if most of the time I didn't understand a word. It didn't stop her though. She could have an entire philosophical debate with herself and equally argue both sides convincingly. That, and she always said she was trying to teach me stuff, so when I didn't understand something she never hesitated to give me a full in depth lecture on it. I even told her she should be a teacher instead of an architect, but she just looked at me like I had gone crazy.

"Are you kidding? You know I can't stand stupid people. They frustrate me too much. Honestly, some things just aren't as difficult as they make it out to be."

"Then how do you explain our friendship?" I countered.

"That's different." Annabeth waved me off. "You at least try, and you're really not that stupid either. Intelligence can be measured in multiple ways."

"And yet there's all those times you call me 'Seaweed Brain.' Or slap the back of my head."

"If you don't like it, then don't do so many stupid things."

I threw my hands out in front of me in frustration. "You just said I wasn't that stupid!"

"No, I said you weren't _that_ stupid," Annabeth corrected. "You can still be dumb. I mean, seriously, who thinks a wad of seaweed looks like a brain?"

"Hey! I was twelve years old and really into zombie movies. It looked like a rotted, green brain. You know how they have those coil things that – you know what? Nevermind." I let my hands drop from making the vague hand gestures that I had been using to help describe how the seaweed looked like a brain to me. Annabeth just looked at me with an amused expression and I knew she was laughing at me silently.

"Whatever you say, Seaweed Brain." She had added the nickname just to irk me.

"You're right. You shouldn't be a teacher. You'd just traumatize all your students. I don't know why I even try to argue with you."

"I couldn't tell you. Maybe it's just one of those stupid things you like to do." I opened my mouth to protest, not picking up on her teasing tone, but she interrupted me by throwing open the door to the diner we had walked to. "Come on, I was just kidding. I'll even by you an extra order of chili fries to make up for it." Sometimes Annabeth could really annoy me, but then I was instantly reminded why she was one of my best friends. She just got me and she was really awesome about it too.

"Sure, alright," I agreed, immediately all my annoyance defused.

We took an open booth near the back without even questioning where we were going to sit. Annabeth and I had been going to this diner for so many years now we had a designated spot, we knew the entire menu, ate everything off of it at least twice, and we were really tight with the owner and all the workers. Of course, it also helped that I had held a part time job here for the last two years. I always told myself that I would stay away from getting a high school job in food services, but I love this place. The best part was that even after getting a job I still loved all their food. I don't think I could ever grow tired of the food here. It was just physically impossible. Even if I wasn't hungry I could eat three whole plates of deluxe omelet platters easily.

After one of the waitresses took our orders and we exchanged a quick conversation about my birthday with her, we fell into an easy conversation about all our memories in this place. It was hard not to feel a little nostalgic at times. If you had a friend who tried so hard to be chivalrous for a girl he liked that he ran into the door and cracked the glass just trying to beat her to it, wouldn't you laugh every time you walked through that door? We certainly did. Of course, then Annabeth started to tease me about the time I had fallen asleep here and my oh so great friends decorated my face with whipped cream and maraschino cherries. I got her back by reminding her of the time when she tried to drink every milkshake that they had on the menu, but eventually it made her throw up and she couldn't make it to the restroom, so it ended up on the shoes of our history teacher. There are seriously times where I'm surprised we're not kicked out of this place.

Our border line too loud laughter didn't quiet down until our food was brought out. There was nothing that could shut up a couple of teenagers more than food. I immediately attacked my French toast, bacon, over easy egg sandwich, barely giving the waitress time to get her hand out of the way. It was a bit of an odd creation, but damn was it good. Annabeth thought she'd try being cute and steal one of my chili fries, but I slapped her hand away, causing her to drop some chili onto the table top.

"Oh, nice going there," Annabeth commented like it was my fault.

I picked up the exact fry that Annabeth had been fishing for and hovered it just outside my mouth. "This mess is all you. After all these are your apology fries, taking back your apology only causes more trouble." I popped the fried into my mouth, anticipating the great satisfaction of eating it right in front of Annabeth. It wasn't just that the fires were one of my all-time favorite things on the menu, it was also the weight they carried with them. It wasn't too often that I got a victory over Annabeth like this. Victory tasted good with chili fries. However, sweet deliciousness was not what I got.

As soon as the fry was in my mouth I was attacked by another strange head rush. This time my vision wasn't spotted, but it went entirely black like I had been pulled away from the conscious world. Then I could see again like nothing ever happened. In that second I had felt like I was falling even though I hadn't moved at all. The fry got rested on my tongue tasteless and heavy. I felt the muscles in the back of my throat constrict and I knew I was going to vomit. I quickly slapped my hand over my mouth and stumbled out of the booth to try to make it to the restroom, nearly knocking over two people in the process, but I had made it. I retched out all the contents of my freshly eaten meal back out of my stomach. Once it was all out I felt like complete shit. My legs felt weak and cold. I didn't even try to get up. I just knelt there by the toilet hanging my aching head.

"Percy?" Annabeth called softly from outside the door. I hadn't closed it so Annabeth could clearly see me in my sickly state. At least her body was blocking the customers' views, although I knew they were all looking this way. "Percy, are you okay?" Annabeth knelt down beside me and rubbed comforting circles into my back.

I shook my head, but I weakly responded, "I'm – I'm fine. Don't worry."

"Somehow I'm not convinced." Of course she wasn't. There was obviously something wrong. Truth be told, it freaked me out, seriously. I didn't know what was happening or why, but whatever it was I didn't want to concern Annabeth. I knew she would have been more than willing to help, but I didn't want her to see me like this, to know how scared I was.

"I just think I need to go home. Get some sleep." I stood up slowly, trying my best not to wobble too much. Annabeth hovered by me ready to catch me if I decided to suddenly collapse. I fished some cash out of wallet and threw it on the table. I probably overpaid, but I could care less at the moment. I just wanted to get out of the diner and back home where I could be alone and safe from all the watching eyes.

"Do you want me to walk you back to your apartment?" Annabeth asked, handing me my skateboard for the second time that day. I couldn't meet her grey eyes. If I saw just how concerned she was, I knew I would break. My defenses weren't too strong when it came to her, but I could be pretty stubborn at times.

"No, it's okay. I think I manage to get back on my own."

"Are you certain?"

"Yeah, Annabeth, don't worry. I'll be fine." I gave her a weak smile. "Finish your lunch and enjoy those chili fries for me. I'll call you later tonight."

Annabeth stared back at me, assessing me to my core. Her eyes gave away her disappointment and she pursed her lips. "Alright. Just be careful, Seaweed Brain." When she used my nickname affectionately I knew she was really bothered. She was just trying her best to play it off, make the situation lighter. I hated holding back on her, but I knew it would only worry her more if I was honest.

"I promise."

"I'll hold you to that." I could have almost smiled for real. That was such a typical Annabeth answer.

I give her a couple more reassurances before I made my way out of the diner. My apartment complex was only a short ten minute walk away, but at the pace I was moving it was most likely going to take me closer to twenty. I was worried that another head rush was going to get me. I wanted to be careful where I was if I collapsed. Luckily, I made it all the way back home with no issues, only a slight weakness running through my limbs. My mom and stepdad were at work, so there was no one to question or bother me as I stumbled through the apartment. I went to the bathroom and washed the sick out of my mouth and stripped off my shirt which had gotten a little bit on it. Then I climbed in my bed and prayed that whatever was happening to me would be gone when I woke up.

As I know now, that was only the beginning, and sleep was not the solution.


	2. Chapter 2

Because I already had this part written and it really helps understand the story a little better than just the first chapter, I'm posting this now. Everything from my first introduction still applies here.

As always, thank you for all support and commentary, even on little side projects such as this. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

It felt like I was falling. Like I had just jumped off the baseball backstop back in the seventh grade. My body was weightless. Air rushed all around me, chilling my skin and blocking my ears. There was no end to the falling. It almost felt like I had been falling in slow motion I had been falling for so long. My stomach twisted painfully as it was being left at the top and unable to catch up with my constantly descending body. That was the strangest part though. I wasn't falling down. I was falling up. I felt like I was falling, but the ground became farther away below me and the clouds closer. I can't really describe what was happening there was such a disconnect between what I was feeling and what I was seeing.

Then it was all over in less than a second. My feet were kicking wildly, trying to reach the roof of a skyscraper that was dropping underneath me, and then I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. It came out of nowhere, but I was being supported by smooth, grey stone. The world wasn't moving, and the air had grown still. Given the height I fell from, if that was what I was doing at all, I should've been a splatter on the rocks. However, the only thing I could find wrong with me was an uncontrollable shiver. I was filled with a heavy cold like I had been dunked in the Arctic Ocean. My body was shaking like an earthquake.

There was a scraping noise behind me and a soft murmuring of voices. I picked up my head to spot the origin of the sounds, but all I could see around me were jagged cliff faces. I had landed on some mountain consisting of only bare rocks with only a twig or two of plant life growing between the cracks. The wind that swept through the rocks was freezing cold. I tried to sit up, but my body wouldn't quite respond to the command. I could feel the same tingling sensation that ran through me when I had my head rush in the park. Only this time it was much stronger and much more real. The voices were getting closer and louder and I could make out the words as they bounced around off of the rock walls.

"This way. I think he's over here."

"You think it actually worked this time?"

"Poseidon helped with this one. It had to."

Finally the speakers came into my field of vision. There were two of them. They scrambled down the rocks like goats, appearing from a crevice that was big enough for a small child to fit through. At first I couldn't believe what I was looking at. They were short, standing no taller than five feet. They wore no clothes except for some loose, white cloth that draped over their shoulders like a toga or something. It cut off at the knees, or what I assumed to be knees. They didn't have legs like human, but rather the shaggy hindquarters of livestock. Their upper halves were completely human. However, one of them had horns that grew out of his head like a goat's. They both stopped dead when they saw me laying on the ground, taking in everything about me.

"See, I told you he came through," the one without the horns said to the other. His companion didn't say anything. He only stared at me like he was having the same trouble I was in believing my eyes. "What is it? You can't really be that surprised, Hedge."

"I just can't believe this is the boy they chose to be their champion. He can't even stand up on his own."

The horned guy's insult fueled an angry energy inside me, even if I had no idea what they were talking about. "Hey, who are you to talk, short stack?"

Hedge, the one with the horns, looked like he was ready to tear off my head. Then his companion rushed over to my side, pushing past him and forcing him to lose his stance. The hornless guy seemed to be the only one of us three who was excited about my presence there. "You're awake, that's good. How are you feeling?"

"I'm – I'm feeling…" I was actually considering the question, before the strangeness of the entire situation struck me. "Forget that." I pushed myself away from the strange hybrid creature. "Who the hell are you? And where the hell am I?"

"Yeah, he's going to be a great champion," the horned guy muttered, rolling his eyes.

His companion shot him a look over his shoulder then turned back towards me. "My name is Grover. I am a servant of the gods. As for where you are, you're on Mount Olympus, but not the one you're familiar with."

"Right," I said dumbly. It was all I could do from not completely freaking out. The only thing that had been keeping me calm so far was the fact that I thought I was in a dream. That was all I could think when I was falling, but now that I was on solid ground everything felt real. Like I was actually living it despite how impossible it was. I didn't understand what Grover meant by a Mount Olympus I wasn't familiar with. I knew there was on in Greece though and it was thousand and thousand miles away from New York, from home. I didn't know how, but I could tell that I was much farther than that. I wasn't in Greece. I didn't know how it was possible, but I knew in my gut and it was true. After years of acting on impulse made me trust my instinct. However, that did nothing to keep me calm.

My chest tightened and my head was spinning so fast I couldn't tell up from down. My vision began to go in and out, flashing between images of the mountain and my bedroom. The strange men around me suddenly rushed around me. Their faces were etched with a desperate kind of fear. Grover reached out to grab my shoulders, but I didn't feel their weight on my body.

"Hey, hey just calm down. Please, you don't understand," Grover pleaded with me. "Don't wake up."

"Here, let me." Between my image flashes I saw Grover's horned companion pull something out of his robe. He brought it up to his face and a sweet, melodic sound filled the air around us. It calmed my racing heart and my eyelids felt heavy. I couldn't fight it as I felt sleep begin to take its hold over me. Relief came over me as my eyelids fell shut. However, I was surprised when I was met with a crystal clear image of the mountain around me instead of the darkness I was accustomed too. My bedroom had completely disappeared. "See, there," Hedge huffed after he noticed my apparent change. "The bridge might be weak, but at least his presence is strong."

"Are saying that you think he could really be the champion, now?"

I waved my hands through the air, cutting off the conversation between the two strange, half animal men. "Will you two stop talking about me like that? I'm serious now, what the hell is going on here?" I was yelling. My voice bounced off the rocks around me and probably carried through the cracks, but I didn't care. I needed some answers.

Grover was taken aback by my sudden outburst. Then his startled features settled into a more ashamed expression. "I'm sorry, we were being rude. There's a lot going on and it isn't our place to explain it all. If you would just come with-"

"No," I interjected. "I'm not going anywhere with you two." I stood up from the ground, my body finally responding to my wishes, and backed away from Grover.

"We're not going to hurt you or anything," he tried to assure me.

I shook my head. It felt childish. Memories of when I was younger and my mom would always tell me not to talk with strangers ran through my mind.

"Please, we need your help." I was about to turn Grover down once more when I looked at his eyes. The emotion in them made me stop myself. It wasn't some puppy dog routine. His eyes held an emotion so strong I could call it nothing else other than true desperation. He wasn't lying to me or trying to trick me. He really needed my help. I may have not understood anything around me, but I understood that much. I just had to make decision whether I was going to give into my fear and run from all of this weirdness or go with Grover and the ill-tempered Hedge.

"A-alright, I'll go with you." Grover's countenance brightened. "Just promise you're not going to kill me."

"Of course," Grover replied simply. "Come, this way." I took a deep breath before following Hedge through the crevice from which they appeared. Grover had waited for me to pass and then took up the rear of our strange trio. I knew I promised I would go along with them, but there was still a small voice screaming at me to run away as the mountain swallowed me whole. There was no turning back now though.

There was a surprising amount of room in the crevice. I only had to duck my head a couple inches and slightly bend my knees to fit. My shoulders were several inches from the walls on each side. It helped to ease my anxiety that was building up inside me once more. A warm breeze swept through the tunnel from the direction we were headed, carrying the smell of grapes with it. There wasn't a lot of light, but there was enough so I could see what I was stepping on, so I didn't have to worry about tripping over the uneven rocks. Just past the silhouette of Hedge's horns in front of me there was a patch of bright, white light. The old saying of light at the end of the tunnel pooped up grimly inside my head. The funny thing was heaven wasn't too far off from what was at the end.

The tunnel opened up on a cliff side that bordered a massive, green valley. It was filled with rolling hills and what looked to be extremely fertile farmland. There were white buildings spotted all across the land. The closest one to me that I could make out reminded me of the pictures of ancient Greece that I had seen in school. I had the feeling the others were built in a similar fashion. Toward the far end of the valley the buildings became more clustered and formed what looked to be a small city. The tallest hill in the valley was centrally located in the middle of the city and single building conquered the entirety of its crest. When I looked up at the crystalline blue sky the sun and clouds seemed unnaturally close, but the weather remained a perfect temperature. It was like I really did end up in heaven, which considering everything that happened up to this point, could have been true. All the same, the only thing I could think of was how much Annabeth would love this place.

Annabeth had always wanted to travel to Greece. There was something about the ancient lore and vast amount of knowledge that came out of the country that fascinated. I would almost go as far to say she had an obsession with it, but I knew better than that. She almost went one summer, but I had an unfortunate accident with box of deadly scorpions that some guy in my apartment building had illegal bought, and she used her Greece money to pay for the antidote to be flown in from Australia to save my life. I've never quite been able to repay her for that. I think that was one reason why I so badly wanted her to see this place. It was even more beautiful than Greece.

"Hey, close your mouth," Hedge snapped at me, breaking me out of my reverie. "Get drool on these rocks and you might slip."

I shut my mouth quickly and instinctively wiped at my chin although there was no drool. However, my jaw nearly dropped again as I watched Hedge descend the cliff side, hopping from rock to rock like a mountain goat.

Grover stepped up next to me and sympathetically placed his hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll help you down if you need it. Can't have our champion break his neck before we even arrive." Somehow his words didn't make me feel all that much better. Still, I felt like he had challenged me and I wasn't going to lose. I had climbed a few rock walls before in my life, but those really didn't compare to an actual mountain face, but I used what skills I had gathered from that to manage to climb all the way down without Grover's help. There were a few times were the rocks moved underneath me and I thought I was going to die. Other than that though, I made it down just fine.

At the bottom of the cliff Hedge was just finishing preparing a small wheeled cart that was pulled by a single white horse. I think it was the first normal thing I had seen since I arrived here even if it was outdated. Hedge shook his head at me as I scrambled down to the grass, not even asking me if I was okay after I nearly fell on my ass before he climbed into the driver's seat. The ever helpful Grover gave me an encouraging smile and lent me a hand to climb into the back of the cart. It was hard to find a comfortable place to sit on the rough, hard wood of the cart, but eventually I settled into of of the corners and Hedge snapped the reins to get moving. The horse was seedy which made the ride very bumpy.

"So, where are we going?" I asked once I adjusted to the bounce of the cart and was certain I wouldn't bite my tongue off.

"Up there." Grover pointed a finger to the massive building sitting atop the hill.

I got a strange premonition as I looked up at the building once more. It seemed like a really important building and I was being taken directly to it. That was either very good or very bad and my instincts were leaning more toward the latter. I shook my head and looked away from the building. This was all just some really intense dream. There was no reason to freak myself out over it. If I just played along, it would all be over soon. I mean it's not like the multicolored, extravagantly beautiful people dressed in ancient Grecian clothing could actually exists in reality. No matter how real everything felt around me, it was still just a dream. If you tell a lie often enough, it becomes true, right?

All too soon Hedge drew the horses to a stop. Looking back I could see all of the city stretch below us, but now the farmlands were blocked out by the buildings. The mountain ridge that we had climbed down from only looked like a grey haze on the horizon. I was astonished just how far we have traveled in such a short time. Whoever trained the horses here would make a killing on the racing circuit.

"Come. It's best not to keep them waiting," Grover urged as he took my wrist, pulling me after him. The massive building seemed impossibly big standing this close to this, which was a strange thought seeing as I lived in New York, but it was true. Even the Empire State Building looked small and insignificant compared to this.

"So, uh, who is 'them' exactly?" I asked in an attempt to swallow down my nervousness. Neither of my escorts answered me, although Hedge did send me a look that said to shut the hell up. I didn't think I was the only one who was nervous now, which only made my question burn brighter in my mind. Thankfully, all I had to do to find the answer was step through the doorway.

When I saw the building from the outside, I figured it like one of the old governmental buildings like they have in Washington or something like that. I thought there'd be a bunch of different rooms inside, each holding an office for something or another. Nope, I was completely wrong. The inside of the building was one, giant room. I was fairly certain an entire football stadium could fit inside the open space and still leave room for parking. The outer rim of the room was decorated with giant, marble statues of people in various poses, usually fighting some kind of monster and in the nude. There were also massive columns on which brightly burning torches hung to light the entire room. I craned my neck up to look at the ceiling, but it was so high up it was lost in the clouds. Literally, there were clouds swirling overhead like something out of Hogwarts. In the center of the room there was circular pit where a large bonfire was burning. Around the pit there was a semicircle of massive chairs. Twelve to be exact and not a single one similar to another. Of course, the chairs were nothing compared to their occupants.

They were human in that they shared the same basic anatomy – legs, skin, arms, faces, hands and the like – but at the same time they were completely inhuman. Each one had to stand at least twenty feet tall. Around them there seemed to a visible glow of energy. Their eyes were all a striking color that seemed too vibrant to be natural. All of them wore some variation of Grecian clothing similar to that of Hedge and Grover, but theirs seemed to be made out of silks and other finer fabrics. One of them looked like he wore a robe spun from pure gold. At first sight I nearly stopped dead, my mind was unable to comprehend everything I was seeing. If it weren't for Grover still towing me along, I probably would have. My escorts marched me right up to the edge of the flaming pit in plain view of all twelve giants in the room. The only sound in the room was the fire as they all stared down at me with their inhuman eyes. Their expressions were unreadable.

"Welcome to Olympus, young champion." The giant that sat at the crest of the semicircle greeted me. His voice echoed through the empty spaces of the room and I could feel the vibration in every syllable. Then he did something that completely took me by surprise. He smiled at me, showing a perfect set of perfectly white teeth. It was quite the contrast compared to his long, thick, black beard and hair that fell to his shoulders. "And I thank you, Hedge and Grover, for fetching him for us. Your service will be well rewarded in time."

My escorts simply bowed their heads in acknowledgement, but I felt compelled to say something. "Uh, thanks?" Apparently it was the wrong thing to do.

One of the male giants exploded at my comment. He was a brutish man, bounded with thick muscles. Even if he wasn't a giant to begin with I was fairly certain he could crush my head with his hands. He had rich black hair cropped close to his scalp and a beard to match. His eyes glowed red like there were small fires burning in his eye sockets. "Listen to this puny runt! He has absolutely no respect and his words are weak at that." The giant brute spit at the foot of his throne. "I can't believe we wasted on power on this one. My choice would have been much better."

"Ares, calm down," commanded one of the female giants sitting on the opposite side of the room. "If we went with your choice, Grover and Hedge would be dead right now and our champion wouldn't be here."

"But at least then we'd know we had a champion that was up to the task!"

"Silence." The voice of the first giant rang like thunder through the cavernous room. Or possibly it was actually thunder. The clouds overhead seemed to swirl just a little faster. "Our decision has been made. Now we have other business we must attend to."

"Excuse me, but could someone tell me who you guys are and what exactly you want with me?" It was probably not the smartest decision to speak up again, but I just couldn't handle it any longer. The brute, Ares, looked ready to jump out of his seat, however the first giant sent him a look that could melt concrete and he remained seated. Then the lead giant turned his stormy eyes on me. It would be a lie to say my heart wasn't pounding a million miles per hour and my legs felt like they were about to give out. Instead of dying of fear, when he spoke I nearly collapsed in relief.

"Even our disrespectful champion knows the more important matters we must discuss."

Ares huffed. "At least you agree he's disrespectful." He muttered something unintelligible after that. I wasn't entirely sure it was even in English.

"To answer your question, young champion, we are the twelve Olympian gods. I am Zeus, king of the gods and ruler of the heavens."

"The gods? Like those myths? But there's no way-" My thoughts were too jumbled to form a sentence.

The air in the room seemed to crackle around me and the hair on my arms and neck suddenly stood up. "We are no myth. I assure you that. Being regarded as some ridiculous fictional lore! That is exactly why we left your world to come here thousands of years ago." Every giant, or I suppose _god_, in the room looked ready to through me into the burning fire pit at this point. I was almost ready to jump in myself. I looked toward Grover for some help, but the half man had his head bent even lower than before and from what I could see of his face he looked terrified. Maybe it was time I considered a little groveling.

"Please, father, he can't be blamed for not knowing the truth considering he's been fed lies since birth," the goddess from before spoke up again in calm, even tones. Always the voice of reason.

"And what would you have me do with him, Athena?"

"Educate him, of course." I wondered if she was going to get yelled at for being disrespectful too. Then another of the goddesses, the one sitting directly on Zeus' left, leaned over and whispered something in his ear. He grumbled something I couldn't quite hear, but it sent a gentle rumble through the room.

"Very well," the old god huffed. "Athena, please, educate the child." His tone almost sounded like he was mocking the goddess, but if she took it that way it didn't show. Perhaps she had a lot of practice dealing with his apparent mood swings. When her eyes turned on me I was expecting some form of kindness in them, but instead I was met with a cold tolerance and disappointment. She said it herself, I couldn't be blamed for my lack of knowledge, so it made me wonder what she had been expecting of me.

"For hundreds of years we gods served mankind. We taught you and blessed you and gave you gifts. All we wanted in return was respect, but after a while mankind turned their backs on us. Your greed blinded you to our help and all you saw was our anger. So, we left. He used our combine power to create another world where we could live in the paradise we created, leaving the mortal world behind. We call this place the Everworld, and this is where you are now," Athena explained to me in the same cool voice she had used the entire time I was there.

I tried hard to comprehend my short history lesson, but it didn't make much sense to me. If what she said was true, then that meant all the myths I learned in school and true too. I just couldn't quite picture a world with twenty foot tall gods and monster running around. Not to mention the other blaring obvious question. "Okay, so then if you left, why am I here?"

"Do you know the stories of mortal heroes doing a task for the gods?"

I nodded, not exactly liking where this was going. There was a lot of death in those stories.

"Well, the time has come for that to happen again. You mortals have something… special about you that makes you perfect for what needs to be done." Athena had chosen her words carefully, but not carefully enough. Zeus released a growl from deep within his throat. He was clearly less than pleased with the situation. "You, Perseus Jackson," I flinched at the use of my real name. Come from her lips it sent a shiver down my spine. "Have the honor of being chosen as our newest champion."

The room began to sway around me and it wasn't from any godly outbursts. I honestly couldn't tell you what was going on at the time, but my body began to feel weak again like it had before on the mountain. The gods around me seemed to sense the discomfort in me. They began speaking hurriedly at each other like something was wrong. I couldn't understand what they were saying. They weren't speaking in English. Grover and Hedge finally came back to life and looked to be working hard to help stabilize me again. It was all in vain though, because I felt my state decline even further and much more rapidly than I had before.

"Quick, boy, answer me," Zeus' thunderous voice was the only thing that reached me. "Do you accept our quest?"

I had no details about the quest or why it was so important that I accept it now, but I did anyways. I had hoped it would be answer to making me feel better. It had no effect though. I still felt like my body was dissolving away in the wind. At least Zeus seemed pleased with my answer.

"Then we will see you again soon, young hero." That was the last thing I remember of the giant room and the gods before I woke up in my bed, a thin sheen of sweat over my body.

I looked around my room in wonder, blinking a few times to clear my eyes. I was back in my room. Everything was exactly how I had left it. There were no strange hybrid men, or green valleys. Just my ordinary, everyday room that I had had for the last four years. That was a killer dream. My alarm clock went off in the next moment. My hand mechanically shot out to silence at it. The angry, red, digital numbers reminded me that I had school in an hour. I fell back on my pillows with groan. That really was some dream. At least now it was finally over.

As Annabeth would love to tell you, I have a habit of being wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

The problem with just writing something as a cure for your writer's block, is sometime the idea isn't that well thought out. I realized the parameters of this story are really strange or difficult to explain and I'm having a hard time conveying it clearly in my writing. This chapter is my hope of trying to put some rules to this universe and develop a little characterization that will be important for their motivations in other chapters. So, I hope you enjoy this next installment, and I sincerely thank you for all your support of my work. I would very much appreciate any feedback on how well I am conveying the whole world cross over thingy. I want this to make sense to all of you. Thank you and please enjoy!

* * *

I leaned against the locker next to mine as I tried my new combination for the third time. Despite having slept half the majority of yesterday and all through the night I was still tired. I felt like I hadn't gotten any rest at all like I had actually been awake the entire time instead. Even the blue pancakes my mom had made me that morning for the first day of senior year weren't enough to rouse any energy inside me. It didn't help that I couldn't focus my mind on anything else other than my dream either. Usually I didn't remember my dreams that much. Just faint notions floating through my head as my mom tried to wake me up, but then as soon as my feet hit my bedroom floor they were gone. This time though I remembered everything, even the way things had felt. I put all my attention on the little number wheel in front of me to try and distract myself from those thoughts.

Finally my locker popped open and the purple, metal door swung open. The third time's the charm, right? The locker wasn't anything special, but it made me smile all the same. In truth, it looked like every other locker I had ever had before except that it was a full length locker instead of the half locker given to all underclassmen. It was the sign of my senior year, my last year of shuffling through the hallways like zombie cattle during passing periods. I emptied my backpack of the books and things I didn't need for my first few classes with a kind of joy that this was the last locker I would ever have.

Suddenly my locker slammed shut causing me to jump back in fright. My unrested mind was reeling, having troubles processing everything. Then my wide eyes settled on a short boy with dark, curly hair and my fright turned into ill humor as he started laughing.

"Man, you should see your face right now."

"Shut up, Leo, I'm really tired. I'm just really not in the mood right now." I shoved him in the chest to get him to stop laughing. Leo was one of my best friends, but he didn't always know where to draw the line in his endless quest for amusement. Sometimes he could really miss the subtle queues that meant not to mess with someone at that time. Like now, and it could be really annoying.

Leo held up his hands in surrender. "Sorry, but I'm actually trying to help you here."

I just stared back at Leo, trying to convey all my annoyance and incredulousness in one look.

"No, man, really. You're gonna have to be awake and on your toes when Annabeth finds you. She's pretty pissed."

"Oh shit," I exclaimed under my breath. I had totally forgotten to call her. Considering the way I had left her yesterday, she had good reason to be pissed. If I saw her go through what happened to me, I'd be pretty freaked out and worried.

"I'm pretty sure she went through every plastic bottle in our recycling last night." That was not a good sign. It meant she had a lot of pent up emotion and her best outlet for it was destructive.

See, what you have to understand about Annabeth is that she has a thing for combat and weapons, specifically swords and other sharp, pointy things. She can tell you just about everything that has to do with ancient battle strategies and weapons from a samurai's katana to a Spanish rapier. She can use them too. She had a small collection of polypropylene training weapons that she used almost every single day, but her real prize was a battle ready, replica Ancient Greek dagger that she had received on her eighteenth birthday earlier that summer. That thing was wickedly sharp and Annabeth would use plastic bottles filled with water as her practice targets for it when she wanted to train with it, although it quickly became her favorite stress reliever when things got a little heavy. Leo knew this better than anyone because he had helped buy the dagger for her and he lived with her.

If you put Annabeth and Leo side by side, no one would guess that they were brother and sister. And they weren't, at least not by blood. However, they had been living together for almost four years now and they have come to think of each other as family, which was a big deal for the both of them. Leo was an orphan and Annabeth was estranged from her own family. When they were younger they both got into a lot of trouble for constantly running away until the state declared they were juvenile delinquents and their homes unfit to properly look after them. Now they both lived together with their social worker as their legal guardian in some special rehabilitation program that was supposed to teach them to be better members of society. It was difficult for me to understand, and that was one thing I would always be envious of Leo. He understood that part of Annabeth's life better than anyone else. Whenever she was having troubles dealing with something from her past it was always Leo who she went to because she knew he wouldn't judge her, that he would get it.

"Oh, well it looks like you're out of time. Best of luck to you, man." Leo patted me on the shoulder sympathetically and then decided he saw something really interesting on one of the bulletin boards not too far away, but far enough he wasn't in the immediate area. I shook my head at him and then turned around to face what Leo had seen.

Sure enough, Annabeth was making her way down the hall and headed straight for me with a less than pleased expression on her face. I felt a burst of nervous adrenaline in my chest, though I couldn't tell you from what exactly. Sure, I was nervous to be confronted with her anger, but I couldn't help but notice the way her jaw was set or the slant of her shoulders or the strong purposeful strides of her legs. I know it's not the best compliment, but Annabeth looked hot when she was angry. Our school uniform – black skirt, white button up, and purple vest and tie, for girls – did nothing to halt that line of thought. I cleared my throat to greet her and was immediately shut down before my mouth was even open.

"Perseus Jackson," she barked out in a stern voice. I winced at my full name. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, going to school?" I stammered dumbly. Wrong answer.

"Really? 'Cause I figured you'd be in the hospital or something, but I guess randomly throwing up while eating food in your favorite diner and rushing home immediately after is a common occurrence. No need to worry or anything." I was painfully aware that I had unintentionally hurt her as she fumed at me.

"Look, Annabeth, I'm sorry. I don't know what that was all about, but I slept all through the day and night and I'm fine now," I tried to explain.

"So, there's nothing wrong? You couldn't call me because you were asleep?"

I looked Annabeth dead in the eye, willing her to calm down. "Yes, I swear. You can call my mother if you want. She wouldn't let me hear the end of it at breakfast this morning."

Annabeth met my gaze, unwavering. By the set of her jaw it looked like she still wanted to fight me. Then she closed them and took a deep breath. When she let it out she opened her eyes, looking at the ground. "I'm sorry, Percy. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I was just worried and with everything that's been going on lately I've been stressed out of my mind."

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "What is going on?" This was the first I've heard of anything that was stressing her out this much. It was a little strange. It hurt a little, too.

"Just stuff with my father. Now that I'm eighteen, I'm a legal adult and the legal system can't really keep me any longer." Annabeth continued looking at the ground as she spoke. When she looked back up at me her smile was fake. "It's whatever, don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're okay." I was going to ask if there was anything I could do to help. I hated seeing Annabeth like this. Then the five minute warning bell rang and I lost my chance. "We better get to class," Annabeth stated.

"Oh, yeah. Wouldn't want to miss econ," I muttered bitterly. Economics had to be one of the worst classes at Goode High.

"Hey, you've already had plenty of sleep already, so I expect you won't fall asleep in class." I mumbled an unintelligible reply of assent. "Well, I'll see you at lunch then." Annabeth waved as she turned to head to her classes. She was in all advanced and dual credit courses and we didn't share any of the same electives, so lunch was the only chance I got to see her aside from passing periods.

I tried not to be too disappointed as I stalked off to class. I didn't like that Annabeth seemed to be trying to hide something from me. Considering I was doing the same thing to her, I couldn't really cast any stones, but it was different. I hid my fear and uneasiness from her because I didn't understand what had happened and I didn't believe it would be a problem again. With Annabeth, she knew exactly what was happening to her and the problem wasn't going to just go away when she woke up. Was she keeping it from me because she didn't think I could help? Or that I wouldn't understand? I couldn't decide which hurt more.

Despite what I had said to Annabeth earlier, I just couldn't stay awake in class. I was still as dead tired as when I had arrived at school that morning. Now that I was stuck in a hard, uncomfortable chair listening to my teacher drone on about the class syllabus my body remembered its inexplicable fatigue. It made no rational sense why I was so tired. However, whether I was tired or awake I think I would've started dozing off anyways. It would be a wonder if I made it through this class with anything higher than a D. I wasn't even through the first period and I already knew I was going to end up sleeping through most of this class. Who decided that economics was a good first period class? I propped my head up on my hand in an unconvincing attempt to make it look like I was still awake, but my eyes were impossible to keep open.

As soon as my lids dropped I felt that sickening rush like I was falling up, but I barely reacted to it this time. For some strange reason it didn't come as a surprise. Or maybe I was just that tired. When the darkness cleared from my eyes I found I was in a bare, stone room on a rough, straw stuffed cot. There were no lights in the room, but a narrow rectangle was cut into one of the walls close to the ceiling that let in a soft stream of sunlight. In my tired state I was fairly content with this dream. That was until I received an unwelcome visitor.

The clop of hooves echoed off the walls followed by an excited, "Bless the gods! You're back!" Grover came into the room carrying what looked like an olive branch, or more it smelled like one.

"You have got to be kidding me," I groaned and let my head drop back to the mattress. There was no pillow. This dream really sucked now.

"What's the matter?" Grover looked truly perplexed by my discontent.

"I thought I was done with this shit when I woke up. It doesn't even make sense how I could be dreaming all this up again. I don't even know what the hell you are." I knew I sounded like a whiny child and the profanity probably wasn't necessary, but in the moment it kept me from doing far worse things. Given the sheepish way Grover tried to make himself smaller at my outburst, I don't think he could have handled anymore of a confrontation. Then I would have felt like a real jerk. It wasn't fair to be angry at him for something that wasn't his fault.

"Well," Grover started his voice small. "I'm a satyr. And the reason you can see me when you sleep even if you don't know what I am is because this isn't a dream. None of this is coming from your imagination."

"How is that even possible?"

"You already met the gods. Their power is how this all possible."

"But the gods are just myths." I quickly rethought my statement after the look Grover gave me. "I-I mean even if they were real. They, um, well they – no one's heard of them in like three thousand years or something like that, right? So… they… left?" I must have said something right because Grover smiled this time.

"You're right. The gods grew tired of mortals, and mortals grew tired of the gods. So, the gods combined their power, something never done before, and they left your world and created this one. An eternal world just the way the gods like it," Grover explained. His smile grew larger as he spoke. Something told me he was in complete support of what the gods had done. He probably enjoyed the world as much as they did since he was something out of a myth too.

"So, I'm in a completely different world right now? I can't just hail a taxi back to New York?"

Grover cocked his head to the side in a perplexed manner. "What's a taxi?"

It only took that one question for it to really sink in for me. I was in another world, a place out of time. That's why there were only horse drawn carts, windows without any glass, and all the clothes looked handmade. This is what my world had been like back during the times of Ancient Greece, the way it was when the gods were still around and cherished. "Oh, man, this is really happening."

"Yes, it is," Grover confirmed gleefully.

I suddenly swung my feet over the side of the cot and sat up. I fixed Grover with my most intense and serious expression I could muster. "Alright, I have a lot of questions. And you're going to answer them, okay?"

"Of course, that is one of my duties here." I inwardly rolled by eyes. Of Course, it would be just that easy.

"So, are the gods, like, watching me? And every time I fall asleep they're going to transport me here, to do what they want me to?"

Nothing can make you feel more like an idiot than having a short, hybrid man, with a face like a middle schooler laugh at one of your questions. Believe me. "No. That would be an absurd waste of their power and time. They opened a portal between the two words and then bound your soul to it. The spirit has a much easier time traveling when the physical body is asleep though, so, yes, every time you fall asleep back where you're from you'll wake up here."

"Right, of course," I muttered to myself. I touched hands together and patted my legs. My body felt solid and it looked exactly the same as my _physical body._ It couldn't have been just my soul that traveled all the way to wherever exactly I was. Then again, in a world with gods and satyrs, perhaps it was possible for the soul to be a tangible thing. "Is it going to be like this forever? Or once I'm done here, I'll never return?"

"I'm not entirely sure. This has never really been done before. It's possible that once you have completed your tasks that the gods will close the portal and your soul will never return." My heart sank. His uncertainty didn't make me feel any better about the situation. I didn't want to return to this strange world filled with magic and gods. I was tempted to ask him if the gods could close the portal now and send me back, but that seemed a little rude. I had technically agreed to help even if it was for the wrong reasons. Plus, if the gods were powerful enough to pull me into this world, I was certain they could really mess with me back home if I pissed them off. No, it was best to just play along until this was all over.

"Okay, then, what do I have to do now? Slay a minotaur? Go on some quest for some ancient artifact?"

Grover shook his head. "No, first you must train. Your success is very important and the gods are not willing to risk sending you out until they're certain you can pass some basic tasks." Then he cocked his head to one side then the other and sniffed the air curiously. I tried to do the same, but my brain felt like water sloshing around in a half filled container. "I guess that will have to wait until you fall asleep again though"

"I'm waking up?"

"Can't you tell?" After he asked the question the facts seemed to register with me. The world was beginning to lose its edge and focus. My movements felt weird like they were in slow motion, but at the same time moving at normal speed. My head felt light and I closed my eyes. When they opened again I was sitting in my economics class once more. I was afraid I missed something until I noticed the other drowsy students around me. I wasn't the only one who had fallen asleep.

The teacher let out a heavy sigh. He had probably been through this a hundred times before with other classes. "Since it's the first day I'll let it slide, but I expect all of you to adjust to better sleep schedule, so you won't fall asleep next time." With that class was dismissed and every tired student rushed out of there as fast as their sleep logged legs could carry them.

To be honest it was hard for me to determine whether or not I was still dreaming or not. My head was still processing what Grover had said and all the implications that went with it. I bumped into people carelessly as I made my way through the hall. I had to pull out my printed copy of my schedule at least five times to check to make sure I was headed to the right class. Twice I had to change direction because I went the wrong way. First day of senior year and it was like freshman year all over again.

"Really, Seaweed Brain, you fell asleep?" Suddenly Annabeth was walking next to me, shaking her head in a disappointed manner.

"How do you know I feel asleep?"

"You have a red imprint mark on your cheek, Plus, you have some drool on your chin," she teased. I tried to wipe my chin as nonchalantly as possible, which I totally pulled off until I realized there was actually drool on my face. Quite the charmer, wasn't I?

Desperate to change the subject I asked," What are you doing here anyways?"

"I have Latin, which happens to be right next door to your speech class," Annabeth answered defensively. She was offended and I wish I could take back what I said. Of course she was there for class, and even if she wasn't that wasn't a way to treat a friend, particularly one that cares enough to memorize your schedule alongside her own.

"Right, well I guess I'll see you in fifty five minutes," I said dumbly as she pulled open the door to her classroom.

"Percy, are you sure everything's okay?"

I sighed. I couldn't keep it from her any longer. "Tell you about it after school?"

"I'll hold you to that."

"I know." She gave me a small smile, which I returned before she let the door fall closed behind her. Now, all I had to worry about was explaining my insane situation to her in a way that didn't sound, well, insane. I didn't have too high of hopes.


End file.
